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The Fire Sermon

SN 35.28, the Āditta Sutta — set 5, Advanced and Reference Texts

Reading time: about 4 min · 689 words

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Before you read

Everything is burning. The eye is burning, what it sees is burning, the knowing that arises from it is burning, and the felt experience that follows is burning too — with greed, aversion, and confusion, and with birth, ageing and dying, sorrow and despair.

Then the same again for each of the other five senses.

The image is famous and the point underneath it is abstract: not that experience is bad, but that it is being consumed by what gets added to it. Seeing that, the text says, you cool toward it, and cooling is what frees you. Short, and the most vivid thing in this set.

Translation

The Setting

At one time the Buddha was staying near Gayā, at Gayā Head, together with a thousand bhikkhus.

There the Buddha addressed the bhikkhus:

All Is Burning

"Bhikkhus, all is burning. And what is the all that is burning, bhikkhus?

The eye is burning. Sights are burning. Eye-knowing is burning. Eye-contact is burning. And whatever felt experience arises conditioned by eye-contact — whether pleasant, painful, or mixed — that too is burning.

With what fires? Burning with the fire of passion, the fire of aversion, and the fire of delusion — burning with birth, ageing, death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, and despair — so I say.

The ear is burning. Sounds are burning. Ear-knowing is burning. Ear-contact is burning. And whatever felt experience arises conditioned by ear-contact — whether pleasant, painful, or mixed — that too is burning.

With what fires? Burning with the fire of passion, the fire of aversion, and the fire of delusion — burning with birth, ageing, death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, and despair — so I say.

The nose is burning. Smells are burning. Nose-knowing is burning. Nose-contact is burning. And whatever felt experience arises conditioned by nose-contact — whether pleasant, painful, or mixed — that too is burning.

With what fires? Burning with the fire of passion, the fire of aversion, and the fire of delusion — burning with birth, ageing, death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, and despair — so I say.

The tongue is burning. Tastes are burning. Tongue-knowing is burning. Tongue-contact is burning. And whatever felt experience arises conditioned by tongue-contact — whether pleasant, painful, or mixed — that too is burning.

With what fires? Burning with the fire of passion, the fire of aversion, and the fire of delusion — burning with birth, ageing, death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, and despair — so I say.

The body is burning. Touches are burning. Body-knowing is burning. Body-contact is burning. And whatever felt experience arises conditioned by body-contact — whether pleasant, painful, or mixed — that too is burning.

With what fires? Burning with the fire of passion, the fire of aversion, and the fire of delusion — burning with birth, ageing, death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, and despair — so I say.

The thinking mind is burning. Ideas are burning. Mind-knowing is burning. Mind-contact is burning. And whatever felt experience arises conditioned by mind-contact — whether pleasant, painful, or mixed — that too is burning.

With what fires? Burning with the fire of passion, the fire of aversion, and the fire of delusion — burning with birth, ageing, death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, and despair — so I say.

Disenchantment and Release

Bhikkhus, seeing this, a learned noble disciple grows disenchanted with the eye, grows disenchanted with sights, grows disenchanted with eye-knowing, grows disenchanted with eye-contact. And with whatever felt experience arises conditioned by eye-contact — whether pleasant, painful, or mixed — with that too they grow disenchanted.

They grow disenchanted with the ear, with sounds, with ear-knowing, with ear-contact, and with whatever felt experience arises conditioned by ear-contact — whether pleasant, painful, or mixed.

They grow disenchanted with the nose, with smells, with nose-knowing, with nose-contact, and with whatever felt experience arises conditioned by nose-contact — whether pleasant, painful, or mixed.

They grow disenchanted with the tongue, with tastes, with tongue-knowing, with tongue-contact, and with whatever felt experience arises conditioned by tongue-contact — whether pleasant, painful, or mixed.

They grow disenchanted with the body, with touches, with body-knowing, with body-contact, and with whatever felt experience arises conditioned by body-contact — whether pleasant, painful, or mixed.

They grow disenchanted with the thinking mind, with ideas, with mind-knowing, with mind-contact. And with whatever felt experience arises conditioned by mind-contact — whether pleasant, painful, or mixed — with that too they grow disenchanted.

As they grow disenchanted, their passion fades. Through its fading, they are released. When it is released, there is the knowledge: 'It is released.' They discern: 'Birth is worn away, the spiritual life has been lived, what had to be done has been done, there is no more of this state of being.'"

That is what the Buddha said. Satisfied, those bhikkhus approved of the Buddha's words. And while this discourse was being spoken, the hearts of those thousand bhikkhus were released from outflows without clinging.

The sixth discourse is finished.

Words used in this translation (15)
aversion
One of the three "roots" behind unwholesome action, alongside greed and delusion -- the pushback against what's unwanted or unpleasant.
bhikkhus
Buddhist monks -- those who have left household life to practise full time. The Buddha's usual way of addressing the assembly, roughly "friends" in force.
birth
This project's rendering of "jāti": birth, coming into being. In the dependent-arising sequence, ageing and dying depend on it. In MN 141 the word appears once in its everyday sense instead, in a simile about a mother.
body
The physical body, as distinct from speech and the mental side of experience.
conditioned
This project's rendering of "saṅkhata" -- anything that came about because other things did, and that stops when they stop. Nearly everything is.
contact
This project's rendering of "phassa" -- the meeting of a sense, its object, and the knowing of it. A technical link in the dependent-arising sequence, not physical touch specifically.
delusion
One of the three "roots" behind unwholesome action, alongside greed and aversion -- the confusion that keeps you from seeing what's actually happening.
disenchantment
A cooling of fascination with ordinary experience -- not depression, but the natural next step once you see clearly how things actually work.
fading
The fading away of attraction and investment in experience, as passion cools.
felt experience
This project's rendering of "vedanā", often translated "feeling". It is the immediate pleasant, painful, or mixed tone of an experience, before any story we build on top of it.
knowing
This project's rendering of "viññāṇa" (often translated "consciousness") -- bare awareness of an object through one of the senses or the mind.
noble disciple
Someone who has had the breakthrough into the path and so is no longer merely an ordinary person. It does not mean noble by birth, and does not require being a monastic.
outflows
This project's rendering of "āsavā" -- deep-running habits that keep seeping out and driving behaviour, classically sensuality, becoming, and ignorance. Often translated "taints" or "defilements."
spiritual life
The Buddhist path of practice as a whole -- not just a set of beliefs, but a whole way of living.
thinking mind
This project's rendering of "mano": the part of mind that thinks and registers ideas. These texts count it as a sixth sense, alongside the eye, ear, nose, tongue, and body.
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